The elasmobranch diversity in three marine reserves in the Balearic Islands was studied from 14 experimental surveys. Within these three marine reserves the commercial fishery is allowed with some restrictions concerning the fishing effort (number of nets and hooks or mesh size) and the closure of some fishing areas. Between 2000 and 2004, 684 trammel net hauls (205.2 km of net) were carried out over Posidonia oceanica, rocky and bare sand mixed bottoms, at a mean depth of 22.1 m. They caught 698 elasmobranch specimens, belonging to 12 species (10 batoids and 2 sharks), representing 9.9% in abundance and 28.5% in biomass of the total fish catch. The most abundant species were the common stingray Dasyatis pastinaca, the rough ray Raja radula and the spotted torpedo Torpedo marmorata, making up 48.3%, 24.6% and 15.3%, respectively of the elasmobranch capture. The spatial and interannual trends were analysed for these three species, as well as for the total elasmobranch capture. Although some differences existed, the results did not reveal a biomass increase related to the protection measures.